Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

A defendant crashed my car into a tree and totaled it. I did not have insurance because my insurance had recently expired.

After totaling my car, the defendant informed me that he does not have insurance either, a fact that he did not disclose to me when taking possession of my car. The car was worth approximately $41,000. The defendant does not have any real property or assets of any value to pay me. He has a job that pays approximately $2,000 per month gross income.

If I were to obtain a $41,000 judgment against him, the judgment would accrue interest at $4,100 per year. If he makes $2,000 per month gross income, wage garnishment would provide $500 per month payments. $500 per month in payments is $6,000 per year in payments from wage garnishment. According to a spreadsheet I have made, he could pay off a $41,000 judgment accruing interest at 10% per year in 12 years. The interest accrued each year on the judgment principal is less than the $6,000 in total payments that would be received from the garnishments, therefore the judgment principal would be paid down each year. In 12 years, the principal is paid off according to a spreadsheet I have made.

I have threatened to sue the defendant for the property damage and wage garnish him. He has threatened to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to discharge any judgment I obtain against him.

My question is, can the defendant discharge this judgment if wage garnishment can pay it off in 12 years? The payments made from wage garnishment would be sufficient to pay down the judgment principal each year, and therefore, pay off the judgment in 12 years. Can the defendant discharge such a judgment even though his income is sufficient to pay it off from wage garnishment?

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